As You Will Me
by silverXshadow
Summary: Allen Walker never brought Mana back to life, because Allen Walker didn't care. pairings undecided
1. Prologue

**The idea just came into my head, so I don't have an actual story to follow this up with yet. **

**Review if you want more. No review means that you don't like it so I shouldn't bother wasting time on it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own -man or any characters in it.**

* * *

Red.

It flies into the air as the clown falls from a deep gash across his chest.

Blood splatters on the figure of a child who, seconds before, had been unsuccessfully trying to stop the man who held the black blade, dripping with blood. Now he stands motionless, tears no longer falling.

The man is tall, with long, dark hair and striking emerald eyes. He turns to the boy, now that he is sure that the clown is dead. Witnesses were an annoyance.

The boy remains still, even as the man approaches. But the man stops, observing those silvery blue eyes that had suddenly changed when the clown had hit the floor. The eyes that no longer hold fear. That hold nothing. No anger, no anguish, no grief for the dead body before him.

He lowers his sword. Perhaps there was no need to kill this one after all. He grips the boy's chin, pulling his jaw up so that the boy looks at him directly in the face.

"What is your name?"

"Allen Walker."

"Why are you not afraid?"

The boy cocks his head to the side, brown hair turning white falling to the side. It is a mechanical motion, as if the boy, Allen, was not a human but a robot trying to act as one. "Why should I be afraid?"

"I just killed the man who took care of you." He could tell that the two had no blood relations to each other, but they had seemed close.

"So? He is dead. He no longer matters."

The man grins, a cold, twisted baring of teeth. Yes, there was no need to kill this one. He would make for an interesting companion.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own -man. consider this the disclaimer for the rest of the story.**

Kanda twitched. Something was telling him that a certain idiot usagi was going to be here soon. He slurped down his soba, unable to leave before finishing his meal. Sure enough, several seconds later, he noticed a shock of red hair rushing into the room.

"YUUUUUUUUUUUUU-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!"

Kanda drew his sword, not even bothering to get up. Lavi tried to slow down, managing to stop right before he impaled himself on Mugen. Kanda glared at him.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Kanda had finished his soba, and was starting to walk closer to Lavi, a menacing aura emanating from him.

"Sorry Yu-chan! Anyway-" he ducked, Mugen slicing off some of his hair. "-you have a mission! Komui wants to see you in his office, ASAP"

Kanda stopped. Considered. After trying to stab the idiot rabbit one more time, he turned and left.

He was surprised to find Komui up, with a smaller than usual pile of papers on his desk. "Kanda, good, you're here."

Kanda sat down on the couch, feeling it sag slightly beneath him. "What's the mission?"

"You're going to have a partner for this one, so we'll have to wait for him before I give you a briefing."

As if on cue, Lavi poked his head in. Kanda froze, then turned toward Komui, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of Mugen. "It is not the usagi," he stated flatly.

"Aww, Yu-chan doesn't want to be with me," sobbed Lavi, weeping crocodile tears.

"Lavi, Kanda, stop this." Surprisingly they did. Komui had sounded serious, for once.

He pulled down a map and pointed at the map. "There's a town at the border of Italy called Mabelliz reporting sightings of a figure dressed in white. Apparently, it has been killing of the people living in the village. The interesting part is that the bodies always disappear after it kills them, so we're not sure if this is an akuma killing humans, or an accomodator killing akuma. Either way, you'll need to stop it. We're sending the two of you because no matter which it is, this thing is strong. You'll be leaving tonight by train. The finder was on another mission before this, so he'll be getting on the train at a later stop." With that, he walked out of the office, cup in hand, to get some much needed coffee.

* * *

Kanda stared out the window, watching the scenery fly past as he sat in the train. He was alone; Lavi had left the compartment minutes ago to wait for the finder. They had been traveling for nearly a day by now. He frowned. He had had that dream again. Always the blood, the fear, those glowing, uncaring eyes watching him. He unvoluntarily clenched his fist, nails leaving cresent-shaped marks on his palm.

"Yu-chan, he's here!" The door slammed open as Lavi danced in, pulling in a confused looking man dressed in brown.

"Che."

The man bowed. "My name is Michel. I will be your finder for this case." He gave the two exorcists a packet of paper. "Clown appeared in Mabelliz approximately four moths ago, he-"

"Clown?" Lavi asked curiously. "Is that what you call it?"

"Yes. He doesn't bother to hide himself, so we've managed to get close to him a number of times. He wears a silver mask that resembles a European white-faced clown, so that's become our code-name for him."

"If you can find him so easily, why did you need to call us in?" Kanda's eyes narrowed. They better not have put him on a mission that could have been done by just the finders, or one exorcist.

"Just because we can find him doesn't mean we were able to communicate with him. Everytime we got to close and tried to talk, he's gotten away. We even tried to trap him in a barrier, but he easily broke through it, so we're still not sure is he's an akuma or an accomodator. As far as we can tell, he doesn't actually seek out people to kill. In fact, it seems almost random, as though while he's walking around, he suddenly decides to kill someone. There's a map that shows all the places where he's struck."

The two flipped through the packet. Sure enough, there was a map with dots of red scattered all over it.

"The reason why we requested two exorcists is because one of you have already tried to get to him. Glen Solen, I believe her name was. When he started to run away, she followed him. She attacked him, in hopes of trying to get him to stop. It took her a month to get out of the hospital. Even now, she's still not in top condition. She says that she isn't sure just what he did to stop her. All she remember is attacking him. Everything is blank after that."

Glen was strong, with a sync rate of 88%. If this thing was able to beat her so easily...

Kanda placed his hand on Mugen's hilt, wondering how he would fare against this Clown. It would be a good way to see how strong he was. He mentally shook his head, clearing his thoughts. The only thing that mattered was the mission.

"Are there any signs of innocence?" Lavi's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"No, the only strange occurence is Clown. And I believe we are almost there. Any other questionss? No? Good."

True to his words, the train was beginning to screech to a halt. They got off, blinking as the sunlight hit their eyes.

The city was, to put it mildly, old. The streets, while paved, had stones that looked like they had been laid down centuries ago. Kanda was surprised that the whole place didn't stink of manure. Despite that, this place was huge. The people had managed to make five-story tall buildings out of whatever they made houses with, making the place look a bit more modern. These buildings were all crammed together, making the narrow roads wind around them like a snake. He was sure that if everything had been spread out evenly, the village would have taken up eight times more space than it already did. It was going to be hell trying to find one person in this whole place. Had the finder actually said that he had found Clown easily?

"We'll have to split up to find him if we want to get anything done."

The finder wrinkled his brows. "Are you sure, sir exorcist? We requested two because we weren't sure if one-"

"All it means is that Glen is weaker than I though she was. I am not." It was true. Kanda never overestimated himself, never saw himself as more than he was. His problem was that he thought everyone was weak, making it an unwelcome surprise when he found out he had underestimated them. "I'll take the west half. Call me on the golem if you find anything." With that, he spun around and walked off, black pony-tail floating behind him.

Lavi sighed before turning to Michel. "Sorry about that, man. That's just how Yu is." He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I'm off."

He hummed to himself as he wandered around the streets. The locals, he had noticed, were friendly enough, although there was a hint of wariness in their eyes. Even the children seemed slightly suspicious of him. It wasn't a surprise. It wasn't like this was a tourist hot-spot. Foreigners weren't a common thing.

He felt his stomach grumble and decided to get some food. He could always ask for some information from the vender, he thought, justifying himself to the imaginary Yu in his head, whose real counterpart was no doubt diligently searching for the mysterious figure dressed in white and scaring off everyone he walked past while he was at it.

He pointed at the meat on the stick and took out his wallet. How much?

The fat man behind the meat stand shrugged and held up five fingers. As Lavi rummaged around for the coins, he felt someone bump into him, the jolt loosening his hold on the leather wallet. He felt nimble fingers tug it out of his grip, light footsteps running away. He froze a second before giving chase. So they thought that they could rob the great Lavi, huh? Well, they had another thought coming. He followed the slight figure weaving through the crowd, paying no attention to where he was going.

"Oy! Wait up, you little thief!" Was it just him, or were people purposely getting in his way? The question became moot as the thief broke free of the crowd, Lavi close behind. He was gaining ground.

The kid suddenly turned a corner that Lavi hadn't noticed, vanishing from his line of sight. As he turned, he suddenly crashed into a person who had just been coming out of that particular streetway. He jumped up, hoping he hadn't lost the kid, when he noticed the white hair crowing the person he had just run into.

"Sorry about that," Lavi apologized, thinking that he had knocked down an old person. "There was a thief..." He trailed off as he locked gazes with misty-blue eyes.

Contrary to his first belief, the girl he had run into couldn't have been more than sixteen years old. Her hair, he noted, hung nearly to her waist, much longer than most elderly people kept it. Not to mention it was a pure, soft white, even whiter than her ivory skin. Her features were delicate, the baby fat not yet having completely disappeared. In short, she was beautiful. Entranced, he couldn't even find it in himself to yell STRIKE!.

The spell was broken as she looked down and began gathering her things that fallen to the ground when they collided. Lavi held out a hand as she moved to get up. Slim, gloved fingers hesitated slightly before taking it. As soon as she was on her feet again, she begain to walk away. Lavi remembered why he was there in the first place and almost cursed. He had let the boy get away! Yu-chan was going to kill him for losing so much money.

As if sensing his internal fight, the girl paused, and without looking back at him said, "If you're looking for a thief, just go down the alley. Take two left turns and one right, and you'll find the gang's den. They keep their hoard there." With that, she moved on again.

Lavi was slightly shocked. Her voice had been low, husky, almost like a guy's. But there was no way it was a boy, right? With a face and hair like that...then again, Yu was like that too. Well, it didn't matter to him anyways. It was unlikely they would meet again, and even if they did, Lavi didn't mind being bisexual. With the matter resolved, he went to get his purse back.

* * *

**No, Allen is not a girl. I just felt like giving him long hair. Anyways, I'm probably gonna rewrite this chapter one day, just not anytime soon.**

**Like I said before, I only have the extremely bare outlines of this story thought out, so its going to take me a while to get the next chapter up.**

**With that said, REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Sorry I took for updating such a short chapter. But I have a reason! During the summer, I couldn't get on the computer as much so I spent most of my time catching up on reading. Also, I need a plot! I have one major event planned out for the future. One. If you could review or pm me with ideas, it would really help. I'll try my best to incorporate the ideas into the story. Besides that, Thanks for reading!**

* * *

"You're late. I told you to be back by three, no?" A dry voice commented, amusement lacing through his voice.

"Apologies. I was slightly delayed as I accidentally ran into someone." The boy known as Allen Walker bowed. He disliked it when he didn't do as his Master told him.

"That's unlike you."

"He hid his presence well. I was not expecting it."

"You should have."

"Apologies. I will change that."

"I really meant it when I say you should have expected it. Those finders have probably called on the exorcists."

"You sound happy about that, Akira-dono." Allen observed, noting the anticipating gleam in his Master's eyes.

"One of _those_ brats became an exorcist. It would be nice if we met again. I'd like to see how he's grown." _If he's improved anywhere near as much as you have, I'll be kept from boredom for just that much longer_, Akira added silently as he surveyed the boy he had taken in.

He had grown. Although he was still slim, he was muscular. He could throw a grown man forty times his weight fifty meters (some people pointed out that since Allen barely weighed anything in the first place, it didn't mean much) as Akira knew from experience. It had been particularly enjoyable to see the man's flabby face as he flew through the air.

The boy was useful too, with that green cross on his hand. He had heard of something like it before. Some drunk person at a bar had been babbling on about a material he called Innocence. Apparently, it was the only thing so far that could be used to destroy those pesky machines called akuma. Which explained why the boy had been able to slice through the ball thingy, the one they met a few weeks after he had met the boy, in ten seconds, while he, a weapons-master, hadn't been able to scratch the thing after pulling off some of his better-not his best, of course. No one reveals their best until they fight a worthy opponent. The ball thing wasn't one. It was just resilient-techniques.

After that event, Akira had begun training the boy in the arts of combat. He had been planning on it anyways when he took him in, and this had just emphasized the need. He had protected his master from several of the akuma already, and the things seemed to be getting stronger.

But he was getting off track. Back to the boy. He was a quick learner, didn't have to be shown something twice to remember it. He was flexible with an amazing sense of balance, which suited Akira's style. He would practice a move until he got it perfect, no matter how exhausted his body became. More often than not, the only reason why he stopped training was because he had collapsed, his body unable to support him any longer. After that had gone on for a month, Akira had had to order Allen to stop before he gave out. Orders which he had obeyed instantly.

That was another thing. He had been right in thinking that the boy wasn't normal. Sure he could act it, but that was only if Akira told him to. When not given instructions, he did nothing. He was like a robot, and orders were his programming. Akira wasn't sure if he liked this part of the boy or not. For one, it was useful, but the boy could get so damn annoying at times, especially when Akira needed someone to argue with. It had taken him months to find the right words to get Allen to act human.

"Akira-dono, the train will be leaving soon." The boy's monotone voice interrupted his thoughts.

Green eyes glitter as he grinned. "Change of plans. We'll be following around the exorcists, see if we can find any fun."

"Hai." The white-haired boy left, knowing what his master wanted him to do. He had been with Akira long enough that he knew what the man wanted without being told outright.

* * *

Lavi sighed, thinking about the pretty girl he had met. Something about her drew him in, and it wasn't just her looks. There had been somthing off about her, and his natural curiosity just wouldn't leave it alone.

"Usagi, oy, baka usagi!" Kanda was not taking well to being ignored. He had even threatened the idiot with Mugen and still he didn't respond. He whirled around, searching for someone to take his frustrations out on. His gaze landed on an unfortunate passerby who was staring at the two. He glared, his hand slowly settling on Mugen's hilt. The poor man saw the shine of a silver-black blade, gave a small 'meep!' and ran away as fast as he could.

Michel was getting bored. Weren't exorcists supposed to be more...dignified? It had been slightly entertaining at first but it was getting old. He watched as the one with anger problems got ready to beat up the one-eye. He sighed, wondering if it was worth the bother to get them back on track.

A flash of white was seen from the corner of his eyes. He spun around, his gun ready by habit.

And found himself pointing it at a wrinkled, old lady who seemed to be buying a teddy bear, probably for her grand-daughter's birthday. He groaned. He was getting paranoid. Really, pointing a gun at a granny? He could imagine what the others would say if they ever found out. He shook his head and turned back to the bickering exorcists, his mind preoccupied on his mistake.

Which is why he didn't notice the hooded figure walking right past him, swiping his information packet from his bag.

* * *

"Ne, Millenie, I'm bored." A little goth girl tugged on the sleeve of an unusally fat man with a creepy grin on his face. She pouted as he continued to walk on, completely ignoring her. "I'm bored, booored, booooooooreeed. -" She lept onto his back, hanging on by wrapping her arms around his neck.

He looked back at her as he felt an unexpected weight settle on him, and she realized that he hadn't been paying attention to her. At all. Normally, she'd throw a tantrum and demand some candy and new toys, but there was something in his stance that told her this was serious. "Something the matter?"

"Hm?" He stared at her, glasses reflecting the light so that she couldn't read his eyes. "It's probably nothing, but I feel like I'm going to have to rewrite the script soon."

"EH? Why? You spent so long deciding how it was going to go!"

"There are some things that even I don't expect, Road," the Millenium Earl sighed. His grin widened suddenly. "Besides, that's what makes this interesting, isn't it?"

* * *

**Please review or pm me with new ideas because I really need them. Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Sorry it took so long to update. I couldn't really think of anything to write. Which is why this chapter's so boring T_T. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner than I did this one but I'm not making any promises. Thanks to all of you who have kept reading and to my reviewers.**

* * *

Kanda scowled. One month. It had been one fucking month and they hadn't found a single clue as to where this mysterious Clown was. No sightings, and worse, no Akuma either. He clenched his hand in a fist, stopping only when he heard a crack, his chopsticks having broken into pieces.

"Che." He flung them at the trashcan, nearly stabbing Lavi who just happened to be in the way, before getting up and storming out of the soba stand. Leaving the red-headed bunny to pay for all the soba Kanda had eaten.

He weaved throughout the crowds on the streets, heading toward the forest where he could get some training. A trace of ivory-colored hair caught his attention, the color bringing to mind their elusive prey. He glared at its owner, their eyes, angry cobalt and calm gray, meeting for a moment before Kanda swept pass. He continued on, never slowing for a moment despite the slight curiosity (not that he would ever admit it) he felt. He never looked back, never saw the way the figure stopped and stared after him before moving on.

He was going through his normal practice routine when the golem beside him crackled. Kanda froze, silently tracking the falling leaf's path as it settled on the floor, as he waited for Komui to speak. All too soon, the supervisor's voice came through.

"The mission is over. Central's been complaining about it taking too long, so we're abandoning it for now. You can get back to it later after you take care of the pile of missions that have been stacking up. You'll be leaving tomorrow at 12 o'clock. I think it's train 47. We've sent a copy of the details of your next mission to Michel-he'll be accompanying you along with Lavi." There was a pause and Kanda heard papers rustling before Komui spoke up again. "I think that's it...Oh! That's right. Do you need anything? We have permission to send you anything you think you might need since it's gonna be a long train ride."

"Tch."

...

"I'll take that as a no then. Ja ne!" There was a click as the head-supervisor speedily hung up.

There was another pause before Kanda realized exactly what Komui had said. "You're pairing ME up with the fuckin' rabbit again!" He sliced at the golem, missing as it floated higher into the air.

* * *

"It seems that they have finally decided to move out."

"Really? I'm surprised it took them so long. Did you find out where to?"

"Train number 47. I believe it's headed toward Shangri-la. There will be more details during the train ride. Would you like me to buy the train tickets now?" The small tracker/listening device that Allen had slipped in the samurai exorcist's pocket as they passed on the streets had been extremely useful.

Emerald eyes gleamed with a maniacal shine as he was reminded of what he had originally called Allen for. "No, not yet. We'll be taking a later train. There is something I wish to try first." He led the white-haired boy over to a table covered in clean white cloth. Allen, knowing what was wanted of him, obediently lied down. Akira carefully injected a needle into Allen's innocence arm and watched with glee as the boy passed out. "Stage one complete."

* * *

Allen woke to a blur of colors. It took several moments for him to focus his eyes and realize that something was off. He looked toward his master, and seeing his smile relaxed. If his master was smiling that meant that everything was fine.

Akira bounced over to Allen, holding a damp cloth which he dabbed on the left side of Allen's face. "Well?"

"It seems that part of my vision has become completely black and white." If it had been anyone other than Allen, they would have been panicking over the strangeness, for unlike the films that Humans considered B&W filled with black and white and all the shades in between, this was true black and white sight. There were no grays, no shadows. It was a curiously flat picture that Allen did not understand the point of. But then again, he didn't need to.

"Hmm." Akira frowned. It must have been a side-effect, but that was to be expected with curses. Even with all of his experience on them, he could still be surprised by what they did. And as long as his experiment worked, it didn't matter. He scribbled several notes down and waited for Allen to keep speaking. When he didn't, he looked up, frowning slightly. "Well go on, does it work?"

"Does what work, Akira-dono?"

Oh. He had forgotten to tell Allen what it was supposed to do. Whoopsies. "Can you detect any akuma?"

Allen closed his eyes, trying to see if he could feel any akuma. Akira watched, fascinated, as a metal gear seeming formed out of nowhere right over Allen's left eye. Another smaller one appeared as well and began to circle the larger as Allen recited, "There are five akuma that I can sense, and it seems that my limit is up to Melusine street meaning I have a 300 metre radius range." Eyelashes fluttered up revealing silver eyes. At the same time, the gear deactivated. "And my sight is back to normal now as well."

"Do you think that in the future, you will be able to detect akuma without trying?"

Allen nodded. "Yes. I was able to detect them before, I just couldn't make out what they were."

"And the makes Operation ACE (akuma curse eye) successful! Now you can go and buy the train tickets. And you should also probably cover up your new scar to draw less attention to yourself." Akira started gathering all of his lab equipment in a flash, but not before tossing Allen concealer and a mirror. The innocence user took it solemnly and put on the make-up, applying it with the deftness of one who hac done this hundreds of times before.

* * *

"76.00 for two tickets, first class, private cabin express to Shangri-La, China. One way." The cashier spoke in a monotone voice, obviously bored from sitting in the small wooden box. Day after day of watching people of all types come and go had made it so that even Allen's strange looks didn't cause any stir in the man. Allen tilted his head for a moment, watching the man hand him his tickets. His business finished, Allen turned and walked away. Perhaps this man was similar to him in a way. Both would continue living the same lives they had now until their death.

Not that it mattered.

* * *

On the train, Lavi watched the outside world pass. He and Michel had decided to board the train early to reserve their two rooms. As members of the Black Order, they didn't have to pay, but if there were no rooms available, they would have to spend their time in the cargo bay. The small, cramped space was not where you wanted to spend days of your time in. Especially not with Yu Kanda on your team.

Lavi shuddered, remembering what had happened the last time the train ran out of space. His poor little bunny plushie...

The door slammed open, startling him out of his reverie. Kanda walked in, never sparing Lavi a glance as he dropped into his seat. Gracefully, of course. Lavi had never seen Kanda do something awkwardly. Even his hair was perfect. Lavi could honestly say he had never seen it tangled before, not even when they had been fighting akuma and Kanda's hair-tie had fallen off.

And coming to the subject of Kanda's hair, Lavi wondered again why it was so long. It couldn't be a Japanese thing as he had seen others from the same country who had normal hair-styles. Such very long hair, just like that girl's...

GAH! Lavi pulled at his hair. He had to stop thinking of her! Had to stop thinking of her delicate little fingers and soulful silver eyes...

"...!"

Kanda watched with something akin to glee as the stupid rabbit started bashing his head against the walls of the train compartment. His fun was interrupted though when Michel opened the door, worried from the banging noises. The second he saw Lavi, he turned around, stepped out, and closed the door. He had obviously gotten a bit too used to their antics.

Unfortunately for Kanda, who had been making bets with himself to see how long the idiot rabbit could go, the sound of the closing door snapped Lavi from his little session. "Huh?" The red-head looked around in confusion.

Five minutes later, Michel entered the cabin again. Five minutes of silence was enough to ensure that it wasn't just fluke and that the two exorcists inside weren't going to act up again. He cleared his throat, rustling the papers in his hand to get their attention. Which consisted of Kanda looking out the window and Lavi staring at him like a dog stares at a juicy bone.

"Our next mission, as you know, is in Shangri-la. There's no specific phenomenon, rather the whole city is strange. We've had reports of flying rugs, dragons, and charms that actually work. So, we're checking if it's the effect of innocence. Unfortunately, we will have no guides there. All of the finders who were reporting to us decided to cut off their ties and enjoy what they called 'life in Paradise.' Bookman is also going to join us. He'll be meeting us there."

Lavi groaned. "Old Panda's gonna be coming? My head can feel the pain already..." Despite his words, Lavi thanked whatever god that existed for distracting him from the girl.

* * *

Akira grinned. He had been doing that a lot lately, but everything was just going so perfectly. He hadn't had this much fun in years, hadn't looked forward to something like this in years. He finally had a chance. And it only added to his amusement that his chance sat in the compartment next to him, never knowing that the man he had so desperately sought after was just several feet away.


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry this took a while. You know what, I'm just going to apologize in advance for how late any future chapters are going to come out. So, I'm sorry. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh, and please tell me if you notice any mistakes. **

**Thank you to all readers, subscribers, favoriters(?), and reviewers.**

* * *

The two exorcists and finder stared around them in awe. This city was like nothing they imagined. Buildings towered around them of all different styles yet still managed to fit together. Quaint little stalls stood at the side of streets teeming with people who wanted to buy the goods. The road was paved with some sort of smooth black and white stone that had not a single wandered in a daze, through alleyways filled with light and right turns that never bought one back to the same place. There was a draw to the place. Everything was foreign, yet somehow it felt familiar.

It took them three hours before they remembered their duties. Even then, it was hard to concentrate. The report hadn't been exaggerated. In fact, they could say with all honesty that it was an understatement. Lavi wasn't sure he would be able to recount everything for Bookman, and that was saying something.

Speaking of Bookman...

"Hey, where's Panda-jiji? I thought he was going to meet us here." Lavi cracked a grin. "Maybe the old man's finally getting so-"

A swift foot in the face easily cut him off.

"O-OW! What was that for Jiji..." Lavi trailed off as he realized that the one who had just hit him was not, in fact, Bookman. This man, while about the same size, had a full head of hair and was wearing no makeup around his eyes.

Despite the obvious differences, Lavi's trained eye could see just how similar they were. Their build, the placement of the cheekbones, their stance, were exactly the same. He watched the old man bow as he apologized for mistaking him for someone else before walking away.

He turned back to his companions, "Ne, Yu-chan, it's not possible, right? No one else could be mistaken as the great Lavi!" He latched onto the dark-haired figure.

Wait.

He...latched on?

Kanda never even let him near...

At that moment, he realized several key differences between whoever it was he was holding on to an the irritable samurai. Key difference being a rather strange softness beneath Lavi's hands.

He looked up and was met with a view of a dark-haired girl who was blushing hard enough to shame a tomato.

"Sorry about that," He let go, backing away as he rubbed his head sheepishly. "Thought you were someone else." With that said, he rushed away. After all, even Lavi had survival instincts.

Much to the disappointment of one dark-haired girl's companion.

* * *

Lavi frowned. Yu-chan and the others had been no where to be seen. It wasn't possible for them to have left that quickly. The road they'd been on was straight enough that it would have taken a large amount of time to leave his sight, even if they had been trying to ditch him on purpose, which he knew they would never do.

Well, it seemed like there was nothing else he could do but explore.

* * *

Michel and Kanda were sure they hadn't done anything. Yet right in front of their eyes, Lavi had suddenly fizzed out of existence, along with all the people that had happened to be in his vicinity.

Kanda's eyes widened slightly, while the less reserved finder found his jaw hanging open. "What?"

"You must be new." The speaker was a boy with floppy blonde hair that covered most of his face grinning happily. "The shifts are happen every day."

"Shifts?"

"Yeah, for some reason, all the people in an area get transported to another. That's what the regions of Shangri-la are. It's a great way to get around if you're a tourist. Although you should probably get a tour guide if you don't even know about that." The boy folded his arms and nodded to himself. As he did so, his hair flew up, revealing an extra face on his forehead, complete with a star.

"Akuma!" Kanda snarled as he drew his sword. He leapt toward the boy, his sword positioned so that when it came in contact, one akuma would find itself neatly sliced in half.

Clang. Thud. Thud.

Three needles shot toward Kanda, one hitting and offsetting his sword, the other two pinning him to a nearby wall.

Michel stared in the direction they had come from, trying to pinpoint the attacker. But there were enough people that it was impossible to find who had thrown them. He groaned, and turned back to the ill-tempered exorcist.

He could say with all honesty that he had not expected to find Bookman there, slapping Kanda up the head several times.

"You idiot! This is a peace zone. That means that you do not attack anyone. Do you know nothing about this place? Your precious church has no hold here. Killing someone would have started an international incident! Is that what you want?" Despite his ranting, Bookman started to pull his needles out.

Not a smart idea.

The second he was freed, Kanda retaliated. "He's a frickin' akuma! What did you expect me t-Ow!"

The old man shook his head despairingly. "Foolish youths! Always running in without thinking ahead." He produced a pamphlet out of his sleeve. "Read this, that is if your brain can stand the strain of being used after all those years of doing nothing."

Surprisingly, Kanda made no more retorts. Until "What the fuck?"

Bookman shrugged. "It is the way things are here. It's not like the akuma attack anyone anyway. They'd be kicked out if they did. I'm not sure why quite yet, but it is a very interesting phenomenon. I really must remember to come back here after the war is over."

At this moment, Michel decided to point out something he personally had thought was quite important. "Sir exorcist, you wouldn't happen to know where Sir Lavi was, would you?"

Silence.

"Che. Who cares about that idiotic rabbit anyways?"

"Yu-chan, that's so mean!" Kanda groaned. It figured that the annoyance would show up only when he was just able to appreciate its absence.

* * *

"Shangri-la, birthplace of marvels. Been a while since I last came here." Akira stretched, the train ride having been slightly too long for his taste. He grinned at Allen, who simply watched him while carrying all of their luggage. "So, What do you think?"

Blank silver eyes bored into him. "It's nice."

Akira drooped his head in exasperation. "That's what you always say. What do you think of this puppy? It's nice. You're bleeding! That's nice. There's a war going on. That's nice."

Allen picked up their suitcases and walked away. He needed to find somewhere to stay.


	6. Chapter 5

**So...It's been a while hasn't it? I've actually had this sitting around for a while cause I wanted to make it longer but it didn't work out. So here's a shortish chapter but I swear I'm not abandoning this story. It just might take a while...**

**Thanks to all who've stuck with me!**

* * *

_Pain._  
_It was his existence, his world. _  
_He had said it would hurt less as time went on. Fuck, he had told himself that it would abide._  
_But it never had. _

* * *

Cobalt eyes opened to a brightly shining sun.

Just another reason he hated traveling, it always messed up his inner clock.

Now there was no time for him to train because they would be looking for a piece of innocence that might not even exist in a city full of strange happenings, where strange happenings just had to be the indicator of said innocence.

Wasn't life wonderful?

* * *

"Ooh, look at that over there!" Lavi dragged the group over to the stand where some kind of bird people were giving a demonstration for a drink that was supposed to let you control the weather around you.

"Idiot, we're supposed to be looking for the Innocence. Or is that too much of a directive for your non-existent brain?"

Everyone stared at Kanda. They had never heard him talk so much.

But then they realized it hadn't been Kanda.

Michel stormed ahead of them.

* * *

Clunk

Clunk

Clunk

Allen stared down at the new boots on his feet, which Akira-dono had rather inconveniently insisted he buy. They were much too loud, especially for the deed he was ordered to do immediately afterwards. It made sneaking up on someone that much harder. And what was the point of kidnapping a lowly finder? Allen frowned. He—

_He just didn't get it. 'Master, why do I have to do that? It makes no sense.' The man in front of him kept moving, nothing to show that he had heard the boy. Allen ran towards him, stubby legs causing him to nearly trip over himself. _

_'M-master, why?' _

_Still no sign, even though Allen knew Master had heard him. A few steps later, the man halted._

_'See that dog?' He gestured toward a mutt playing fetch with its owner. 'You are like it. You do not need to understand why your owner tells you to do something. You just have to obey, even if it is as mindless and pointless as retrieving a stick over and over and over again. Okay?'_

_Little Allen smiled brightly. 'Okay~'_

Allen's face blanked. He didn't need to know why.

* * *

Michel grimaced, gripping his stomach. The shift had not agreed with him. And now he had been separated from the exorcists.

But honestly, they acted like children! Granted, two of them had only just arrived at adulthood, but one would expect exorcists, the chosen of god, to act in a more dignified manner.

Sighing, he wondered if he should take out his golem yet. It was so peaceful without them. Yes, he decided, he deserved some time to explore. He set out, determined to enjoy the two hours he had allotted himself before he would contact the exorcists again.

Poor Michel never saw the hooded figure coming.

* * *

Akira whistled happily as he strolled down some random street. He would never have done something so inane normally, but life held so much promise of becoming interesting. Moments like these had gotten rare as time passed. Perhaps he should start on his little projects if one experiment did this much. It would be harder now to get his materials what with all this new technology stuff, but that would just add to the—dare he call it excitement?

No, this was still much too mundane to use that word. Perhaps complexity? Yes, that would work.

But where to get the proper materials? Africa, possibly. He had heard of the tribal wars taking place there, several missing children wouldn't garner much attention, would they? Or Australia, where enough people disappeared in the bush that it wouldn't be suspicious. Wait, he had already done that. Maybe he'd just use Allen. The boy was beginning to bore him, but he still had his uses. And Allen just didn't fit the right criteria.

So.

China? There was something going on about overpopulation over there…


End file.
